Tomorow's Reflection
by Cat o'thWind
Summary: Based on The Book Of Night With moon by Diane Duane. A new world gate appears in Detriot airport and a group of wizardly cats are called upon to help before Someone else destorys it. Rated PG because of mild violence and cat swearing in their own lanauge.
1. Gathering

Disclaimer: All world ideas, gate ideas, and feline words belong to Diane Duane. I own all of the characters in this chapter. Never claim that any of these are 'yours'.  
  
*Thoughts, the Whispering and thought communication are encompassed in ''  
  
-  
  
Detroit Metro airport never closes. Planes came in and out all day, people move forward in various manners; some walking, others were carried over the ground by escalators or moving floors. Some rode in the dark red tram that coursed over head, unseen through darkened windows. A few staff rode over the main floor in stout patrol vehicles that were avoided by those on foot. Most of the walkers dragged behind them bulky suit cases or bags, that continually upturned as their owners hurried forward in a fevered sense of urgency. Those that carry bags tended to move slower and were waiting for their plane to begin boarding by buying things from one of the many foot and retail stores scattered along the edges of the terminal. All around them at strategic points were the security guards, eyes hidden behind black glasses.  
  
Those people who did not hurry often took time to stare at the fountain at the center of the main concourse. Streams of water leapt over the dark stone in elegant arches, cascading over the smooth marble to reflect a tall ceiling before spilling over the edge and circling up again. Though streams of water changed sometimes, like shifting strings that made making different patterns, it always reflected the bright sky over the black stone. Gazing down into it gave the illusion that you were looking into somewhere else, and if you only passed through the water...  
  
Day time came and went. In the relative slowness of early morning, something rippled in the air with a clean elegance, as if it had always been there. Though none of the people who now looked upon the fountain saw anything in the air, a few thought they caught a glimpse of something like bright light woven, that reflected from the pool.  
  
~  
  
Spring time was coming in a rush. It was fairly warm, though snow had fallen yesterday, but this was Michigan, and things like that happened. What was important was that the winter snow had melted off, and now it was just a wait until April when the temperatures settled above freezing and the buds began to open. Before then it was an up and down sort of race to make as much of the sunshine as you could before it passed.  
  
Hihwo was doing just this. He felt no cat should have to always live as he did, on scraps, dumpster food and things he had begged from humans. So, being the young cat just into tom hood, he had decided to cross international borders to Canada so he could hunt in one of the parks. This wasn't too odd, after all cats did a lot when they put their will into it and Canada and the United States exchanged tourists by the hundreds every day. No one in Michigan paused to look at the Canadian pennies that filtered into their wallets. So the humans weren't too uptight and cats didn't care much about human borders. This plus the fact that the Detroit river with its huge walk able bridge was the only obstacle made a crossing not unbelievable.  
  
What was odd was that he crossed the river by walking over it.  
  
The fact was that Hihwo was a feline wizard, just out of Ordeal. He had a mind for puzzles and thought he was hot stuff. Like many toms, he had some personality quirks that made him fairly annoying to most and very bold. This was why he had decided with his dusty tabby fur looked enough like a goose to be able to cross without becoming invisible. Though this was true for the humans who stood far away on shore, it was not true for the actually geese. At first they called alarms after him, but after he toppled over the wake of a large boat, their voices turned to cackles. Cursing silently, he reached shore by scrabbling up the grassy beach and muttering the word that deactivated his spell before the ground became too confused about what he was asking it. Shaking his whole body as if to free it from the feeling of walking on moving water, he trotted into a stand of leafless trees and began to search for prey.  
  
The hunting was good. It didn't appear many predators had come there before. A few small rodents were digging around, but they had noticed him at once. It would be hard to hunt now that they had heard his foot falls. But there were a lot of birds. Many robins flitted about, pausing to peck the ground, and then alighting on low branches to scream at other birds who had come too near.  
  
Hihwo dropped down, tail flicking gently. He waited patiently for a bird to come close. After a time, an active looking robin came within a few feet of the hidden cat. For a second Hihwo didn't move but waited for the bird to settle, then he leapt, strong legs letting him soar through the air. Still, it was hard to jump over the tangle of branches, and before he could touch the bird, it screeched alarm. He fell upon it, preformed a clean killing bite and after settling down, began to eat his fill, whiskers forward in happiness at finally eating something real. Half way though the meal, he felt the familiar presence that was the Whisperer watching over his head. 'What is it?' He asked silently. Her answer came as one of his thoughts might, though it was clearly not his own. 'You may need your strength, eat first.' Came her answer.  
  
Once he was done with his meal, he settled down to listen to what She had to say. He hadn't really liked her answer. What would he need strength for?  
  
'There is a new world gate . It appeared early this morning at the human airport. You will be needed.'  
  
A pause. The brown tom took a moment to breath deeply, and licked his nose in fear and excitement. Once he was ready, he asked for the rest of the information. It seemed that the gate had appeared over a pool of flowing water, (half feral Hihwo blinked at that, having never seen a fountain), just before dawn. It had snapped into place very smoothly, but now was interfering with its surroundings in harmless but noticeable ways. The Whispering couldn't guarantee the danger levels would stay so low for much longer. He was one of seven other cats whom had been asked to help. She was very clear that he could choose not to go if he had other issues to deal with, whatever they may be. It was also clear that this may or may not be a permanent team. Some people may drop out, others may come in, and they would definitely be getting visits from already existent world gating teams. After that he was told in detail how to reach the place.  
  
Once the raw information about the gate was done, he activated the water spell again and began the long walk to terminal while refreshing his memory on the basics of world gating.  
  
~  
  
Ailah's pale grayish form sat rigidly against the terminal wall as she glared at the passing humans. Not that anyone could see her when she was sidled between the hyper strings that made up the world's flow of energy. The noise was terrible, she was trying not to understand it, but everything about the building and the people in it was either hurrying or waiting. The only thing that she got a good sense out of was the fountain which she was watching intently, or rather she was watching what was hovering above it intently. The gate was not very stable. She was not happy. For this reason she was feeling a great irritation for this whole business, but mostly for those whom were supposed to be coming. She had been sitting here for an 45 minutes now, just waiting for them to come so that she could get the business started. The Whispering had said to wait for them, they were important and the gate could wait. Still every time she had asked what was happening she had been told they were coming.  
The silver queen shifted from paw to paw, calling to Iau with hopes that they would come quickly. If they did not she feared she would simply shut down the whole fountain and work on the gate. She itched to work on it, though she did truly want others opinions on what was happening. It wasn't like she wanted to mess it all up. A gate was a very useful things to have. This would be the first in Michigan and it would help all the wizards to get around easier.  
  
'If only the vai'd others would get here.' She thought aggressively as she stood up to get a closer look at the gate for the eighth time. There was no change in what it was doing, which was flipping around to look at other places in the city on a visual level only. It had not gone more than five miles away. She knew that just by looking. The unfortunate thing was that a few humans had noticed too. Not many, and most were young who didn't blank such things out as much, but one had been a staff member. Though she would have loved to hear what they thought was wrong with the fountain, she didn't want to deal with the 'fixing' of the fountain.  
  
Lashing her tail once, she lay down away from human feet and waited for help to arrive.  
  
~  
  
A sidled form slipped between the feet of humans standing on the escalator. Bright yellow eyes peered about inquisitively as the large black cat turned around to face a small red and black cat laced with tabby markings and white feet. Her tail was fluffed out as she pranced around the humans in a flighty sort of way. She was sidled too.  
  
"There's so many of them, Iowru. I didn't know they lived this crowded."  
  
Iowru's whiskers pulled forward at the adolescent's comment, but he turned away so that she couldn't see and kept on walking. His daughter, Silao, didn't know much of humans even though he lived with them. Her mother had been feral and she had only been inside once, though she knew they gave her food. He had been de-tomed since her birth, but his mate was still his mate, even if they weren't to have kittens any more.  
  
"They're not actually living together, they're just here so that they can get to other places faster. Watch your tail." He added automatically as a large human took a step forward, ignoring the fact that you weren't supposed to walk on the escalators. Silao jumped sharply out of the way, ears back and landed on a different step. Though it was obvious she wanted to composure groom, she seemed too fluffed and nervous about the movement of the steps to actually do so. Instead she settled for running up the stairs to get off of the thing faster. Iowru followed, trying not to touch any of the humans as he passed.  
  
Once at the top a long floor stretched before them at the end of which was the fountain and hanging over it the gate, shimmering in reds and oranges. While Iowru was more interested in this, Silao's eyes had wandered to on odd scene next to the fountain. Two cats, both sidled stood rigidly staring at each other. One was a light silver queen, the other a young tabby tom. As father and daughter approached the pair they began to hear their conversation.  
  
"Why does it matter so much that I walked?" Growled the tom, voice low and threatening, though his stance showed that it was the queen whom was controlling the conversation.  
  
"I don't care if you walked or not!" Was the gray queen's sharp reply. "But you took forever in coming to help with a new gate."  
  
"It's not my fault you were early and I needed to learn more about gates." He cried in response.  
  
"I was not early, and you could have sat in a corner listening to Her about world gating for all I care as long as you could have served whatever your purpose is," her tone implied she had no idea what that could be, "sooner."  
  
Suddenly the queen seemed to notice the two who were watching them. The male edged away while she was distracted. The silvery cat gazed piercingly at them and when she spoke her voice was irritated, but controlled.  
  
"Did you transit?" She asked, her voice stressing the you.  
  
Iowru flicked his tail 'yes' as quickly as he could while Silao stood stock still. The queen's eyes softened at the sight of the kitten. She spoke again, but this time her voice was calm and quieter.  
  
"I'm sorry, this is just so stressful and I've been waiting forever. I'm Ailah, who are you?"  
  
"It's alright and I'm Iowru. And this is-"  
  
"I'm Silao." The kit broke in eagerly, her fear dissipated, though her tail was still puffed up. She was like that. Her tail even fluffed when she was playing. Iowru smiled and Ailah returned it.  
  
The tom had come back into view and though Ailah shot him a sharp glance, he ignored her and turned to the newcomers, trying not to look to relived to see them and more happy to meet new people.  
  
"I'm Hihwo, pleased to meet you."  
  
For a moment they all just sat, feeling relaxed as they looked around at each other. The group felt right, even Ailah was looking tolerant of Hihwo. All of them silently felt that the group would work, and perhaps be more than a temporary pride. The gate crackled in the background, remind them of the business at hand.  
  
"So," said Iowru after a moment. "Where do we start?" 


	2. Exploring

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and the characters in this chapter.  
  
-  
  
Four cats, invisible to the normal eye, sat staring a the fountain that was the center of the Detroit airport's main terminal. None of them moved, and for once none of their eye's were on the shimmering weave of energy that hovered about the fountain. They were all staring unblinkingly at the water, thinking over the plan they had conceived and trying to see a loop hole around the part none of them liked.  
  
The dusty brown tabby shifted once and then spoke quietly without moving his head "Sil-" But he was cut off by the indignant cry of the kitten he was addressing.  
  
"No, it's too wet!" Was all she said, and though she squinted as if worried she was going to be cuffed, she held her ground. After a brief moment in which Iowru licked his daughter's ear sympathetically, Hihwo spoke again.  
  
"But you're small that the humans wouldn't notice the places where your paws went. You could just walk up there and you..." He voice tapered away as he spotted Ailah's expression and Silao's fluffed tail. Gold eyes flicking between the two he tried not to look like he was afraid of Ailah's glare.  
  
"That's all very fascinating," said Ailah. "But did you know that She said you've just worked with water? And Silao shouldn't have to do this when she's still in training. Why don't you go up there?"  
  
For a moment both of them bristled, glaring at each other in a staring contest of sorts. Then, with lashing tail, Hihwo broke eye contact and began to wash furiously. Iowru, who didn't like fights and didn't mind water that much, said a few words in speech that would make the water flow off of him, leapt up.  
  
Even with the spell it was very wet and much colder than he expected. Feeling his fur itch, he tried to dodge around the streams of water that surrounded the gate. It was nearly impossible. The flow changed continually, and there was no dry way to the part of the gate he needed to access. Giving up, he let himself be spurted with water as he walked straight towards the gate. Once in the center it was like the eye of the storm, all of the streams pointed away from him for once. Growling softly, he gritted his teeth, and plunged his paw into the weave.  
  
A great power surged over him, into him, through him. He gasped and tried to pull his paw out, but couldn't. He felt himself being explored by something unfeline, and not alive, but also not dead. It searched through him and he found himself searching through it, stumbling and unsure of what anything her felt really meant. Everything was very new and empty, like a blank slate about two million miles wide, waiting to be filled, though he did sense something older behind it. 'The power source.' Thought the logical part of his brain. Just then he was lead through more places as if the gate was showing off everything to him.  
  
Then it was done. For a few moments he stood there stupidly, his paw still in the weave. Then, slowly, he pulled it out. Some impulse made him look at it, as if to check that it hadn't turned white or something. Then her sat down in the water.  
  
"Iau..." He breathed, completely amazed by what had just happened. The power, it had been unbelievable, and he had seen everything in it. Excitement rode over him like a wave and for a moment his heart thrummed in his chest. Then he heard a small splash and turned to see Silao run up to him, her big green eyes wide. Butting heads with her in greeting, he saw that Ailah and Hihwo were walking on the air above them. They were on separate block of solid air, he noted. It wasn't doing them much good either. The flow of streams had come around and they were getting slashed. Ailah hissed, but stood her ground. Hihwo decided to use the water spell instead, and dropped down beside the pair.  
  
"What happened?" The pale tom asked eagerly. "You went really stiff for a moment and then you went all bright, thank Iau the humans can't see that."  
  
"Yeah!" Said Silao, and for once her tail was not fluffed. "Then you got normal again and your face looked really goofy." Her whiskers shot forward at the memory of his expression, and Iowru saw the other's whiskers twitch too. Feeling slightly stupid, he started to rabidly explain what had happened and how it felt.  
  
"Huge!" He repeated several times. "So much of everything; power, space, time, but very new. Ready to do things."  
  
He also commented that it did indeed feel rather unstable, like it hadn't pinned down what it was supposed to do. Ailah nodded at this. The fact that it was new had worried her. It could just unravel, or when asked to perform an operation it could malfunction and break down entirely. It might also be more susceptible to outside changes, and malfunction at that or it could-  
  
She stopped herself before her agitation escalated. She assured herself that, yes, there would be problems, but they could be solved. Breathing deeply, she growled at the next wave of water and leapt away from the wetness. It took a moment for the others to follow but soon they were standing on the dry floor again.  
  
"Okay, that was educational." Said Ailah in a sort of lets-not-all-go- insane-when-I-say-the-next-thing voice. "Now we need to move it."  
  
They all groaned inwardly. 


End file.
